Communications

This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act. I hereby request the following records:

In regards to National Parks in the Southeast Region:-The current memorandum of agreement (MOA) or memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Defense Logistics Agency, Disposition Services regarding the 1033 equipment surplus program administered by the DLA Law Enforcement Support Office-A roster/inventory of all requests to the Pentagon's Program 1033. If a roster is not available, please provide copies of all applications. -A roster/inventory of all items received from the 1033 program.

I also request that, if appropriate, fees be waived as I believe this request is in the public interest. The requested documents will be made available to the general public free of charge as part of the public information service at MuckRock.com, processed by a representative of the news media/press and is made in the process of news gathering and not for commercial usage.

In the event that fees cannot be waived, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 20 business days, as the statute requires.

This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act. I hereby requestthe following records:

In regards to National Parks in the Southeast Region:-The current memorandum of agreement (MOA) or memorandum of understanding(MOU) with the Defense Logistics Agency, Disposition Services regarding the1033 equipment surplus program administered by the DLA Law EnforcementSupport Office-A roster/inventory of all requests to the Pentagon's Program 1033. If aroster is not available, please provide copies of all applications.-A roster/inventory of all items received from the 1033 program.

I also request that, if appropriate, fees be waived as I believe thisrequest is in the public interest. The requested documents will be madeavailable to the general public free of charge as part of the publicinformation service at MuckRock.com, processed by a representative of thenews media/press and is made in the process of news gathering and not forcommercial usage.

In the event that fees cannot be waived, I would be grateful if you wouldinform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I wouldprefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if availableor CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. Ilook forward to receiving your response to this request within 20 businessdays, as the statute requires.

This acknowledges receipt of your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)request, received in this office on September 15, 2014. Your request hasbeen assigned Tracking Number NPS-2014-00876. Please refer to this trackingnumber on all correspondence regarding your request, particularly since youhave multiple requests underway. You have requested the following records:

*-The current memorandum of agreement (MOA) or memorandum of understanding(MOU) with the Defense Logistics Agency, Disposition Services regarding the1033 equipment surplus program administered by the DLA Law EnforcementSupport Office-A roster/inventory of all requests to the Pentagon's Program1033. If a roster is not available, please provide copies of allapplications.-A roster/inventory of all items received from the 1033program.*

Your request for a fee waiver is currently under consideration.

There are no records pertaining to your request centrally maintained herein the Southeast Regional Office so I am working directly with parks thatmay have participated in the program.

It is the policy of the National Park Service (NPS) to: (1) make records ofthe NPS available to the public to the greatest extent possible in keepingwith the spirit of FOIA; (2) make available documents requested under theFOIA at the earliest possible date while, at the same time, protecting therights of the individuals involved and the administrative processessurrounding such rights; (3) withhold documents falling within one of theFOIA exemptions only if disclosure is prohibited by statute or ExecutiveOrder, or in those cases where the agency reasonably foresees thatdisclosure would be harmful to an interest protected by exemption or othersound grounds exist for invoking an exemption.

Your request is being processed under the provisions of the Freedom ofInformation Act (5 United States Code 552 as amended by Public Law 104-231,11 Stat. 3048); United States Department of the interior implementingregulations found at 43 Code of Federal Regulations, PUBLIC LANDS: INTERIORbeginning part 2, Subparts A through E (see Federal Register of October 21,2002, Volume 6-7, NO. 203, page 64527), and the Privacy Act of 1974 (PublicLaw 93-579). Additional FOIA and Privacy Act guidance may also be foundthrough the Department of the Interior’s website, http://www.doi/gov or theU.S <http://www.doi/gov%20or%20the%20U.S>. Department of Justice site,http:/www/usdoj.gov

This acknowledges receipt of your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requestfor the following records:

In regards to National Parks in the Southeast Region:

- The current memorandum of agreement (MOA) or memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Defense Logististics Agency, Disposition Services regarding the 1033 equipment surplus program administered by the DLA Law Enforcement Support Office - A roster/inventory of all requests to the Pentagon's Program 1033. If a roster is not available, please provide copies of all applications. - A roster/inventory of all items received from the 1033 program

Before we proceed, I can tell you that we have no responsive records forthe first point of your request. There is no MOA or MOU between theSoutheast Region of the NPS and any branch of the military. This type ofagreement, if used in this program, would be managed at a much higher level.

You have requested a fee waiver; however, you have not provided sufficientinformation from which I can determine your eligibility. Each FOIA requestis considered for fee waivers on its own so, although you have provided ajustification for fee waiver with other request, I must ask you to providewith additional information. As with your other requests, please addressthe following criteria within 20 days of this email:

(1) How do the records concern the operations or activities of theGovernment?

(2) If the records concern the operations or activities of the Government,how will disclosure likely contribute to public understanding of theseoperations and activities?

(3) If there is likely to be a contribution to public understanding, willrelease of the requested records contribute significantly to publicunderstanding?

(4) Would disclosure be primarily in your commercial interest?

Any fee estimate will be based only on the second and third points of yourrequest. We have already provided our response to point one.

It is the policy of the National Park Service (NPS) to: (1) make records ofthe NPS available to the public to the greatest extent possible in keepingwith the spirit of FOIA; (2) make available documents requested under theFOIA at the earliest possible date while, at the same time, protecting therights of the individuals involved and the administrative processessurrounding such rights; (3) withhold documents falling within one of theFOIA exemptions only if disclosure is prohibited by statute or ExecutiveOrder, or in those cases where the agency reasonably foresees thatdisclosure would be harmful to an interest protected by exemption or othersound grounds exist for invoking an exemption.

Your request is being processed under the provisions of the Freedom ofInformation Act (5 United States Code 552 as amended by Public Law 104-231,11 Stat. 3048); United States Department of the interior implementingregulations found at 43 Code of Federal Regulations, PUBLIC LANDS: INTERIORbeginning part 2, Subparts A through E (see Federal Register of October 21,2002, Volume 6-7, NO. 203, page 64527), and the Privacy Act of 1974 (PublicLaw 93-579). Additional FOIA and Privacy Act guidance may also be foundthrough the Department of the Interior’s website, http://www.doi/gov or theU.S <http://www.doi/gov%20or%20the%20U.S>. Department of Justice site,http:/www/usdoj.gov.

This establishes our fee estimate to process your Freedom of InformationAct (FOIA) request, which we have assigned Tracking Number NPS-2014-00876.You have requested the following records:

*The current memorandum of agreement (MOA) or memorandum of understanding(MOU) with the Defense Logistics Agency, Disposition Services regarding the1033 equipment surplus program administered by the DLA Law EnforcementSupport Office*

· *A roster/inventory of all requests to the Pentagon’s Program1033. If a roster is not available, please provide copies of allapplications.*

· *A roster/inventory of all items received from the 1033 program*

I previously responded in your acknowledgement email, sent October 3, 2014,that there are no records responsive to the first point of your request.

Since I have not received sufficient information from you to justify awaiver of FOIA fees, I am denying your fee waiver.

Our initial estimate of the cost to process your FOIA request is $942.00,calculated as follows:

The estimated cost of your request is:

Managerial staff 4 hrs x$60.00/hr = $ 240.00

Professional staff 16 hrs x$42.00/hr = $ 672.00

Duplication of 200 pages x.15/page = $ 30.00

As a requester in the “other” category for fee purposes, you are entitledto up to two hours of search time and up to 100 pages of responsive recordsat no cost. I have granted you two hours of search time (Professionalstaff@$42/hour)and 100 pages, which reduces your fee estimate to *$843.00*.

Because this amount exceeds $250, in accordance with 43 CFR 2.18(c), youmust make an advance payment of the full amount of the estimated fee forthis request. If you are still interested in obtaining these records,please send a check or money order for $843.00 made payable to the NationalPark Service to:

National Park Service

Southeast Regional Office

ATTN: FOIA Fee Processing

100 Alabama Street SW

1924 Building

Atlanta, Georgia 30303

Please note that it is possible that the cost to process your request couldexceed the total estimated above. If this occurs, we will stop processingyour request. We will then notify you of the higher amount and ask that youprovide written assurance of payment of the higher amount before we resumeprocessing your request.

It is also possible that the cost could be less than our estimate. In thatevent, we will provide you a refund after completing our response.

If you want to reduce the scope of your request to determine if that mightreduce your fee estimate, please submit your revised scope within 10 daysof the date of this email.

In accordance with the Department’s FOIA regulations (43 CFR 2.189(c),2.18(d), and 2.12(b)), we will not begin processing your request untilpayment is received. If we do not hear from you within 20 workdays of thedate of this email, we will assume you are no interested in paying the fullfees and will proceed with two hours of search time.

The following attorney was consulted in the denial of your fee waiver:

Brigette Beaton, Attorney-Advisor

Office of the Regional Solicitor

U.S. Department of the Interior

75 Spring Street, S.W., Suite 304

Atlanta, Georgia 30303

Pursuant to 43 C.F.R. §§2.28, 2.29 and 2.30, you may appeal this denial to:

Freedom of Information Act Appeals Officer

Office of the Solicitor, Office of General Law

U.S. Department of the Interior

1849 C Street, NW

MS-6556, MIB,

Washington, D.C. 20240.

Your appeal must be in writing and received by the FOIA Appeals Officer nolater than thirty (30) workdays after the date of the final response. Yourappeal must contain copies of all correspondence between you and theNational Park Service regarding this request. You also should include inas much detail as possible any reasons why you believe this denial to be inerror as well as your name and contact information in the event the AppealsOfficer needs additional information or clarification of your appeal. Allcommunications concerning your appeal should be clearly marked with thewords: “FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT APPEAL.” Any appeals request that isreceived at the FOIA Appeals Office after 5 p.m. will be marked as beingreceived the following day.

Additionally, because the National Park Service creates and maintains lawenforcement records, we are required by the Department of Justice toprovide the following information, even though it may or may not apply toyour specific request. Congress excluded three discrete categories of lawenforcement and national security records from the requirements of theFOIA. See 5 U.S.C. 552(c) (2006 & Supp. IV 2010). This response is limitedto those records that are subject to the requirements of the FOIA. This isa standard notification that we are required to give all our requesters andshould not be taken as an indication that excluded records do, or do not,exist.

Also as part of the 2007 OPEN Government Act FOIA amendments, the Office ofGovernment Information Services (OGIS) was created to offer mediationservices to resolve disputes between FOIA requesters and Federal agenciesas a nonexclusive alternative to litigation. Using OGIS services does notaffect your right to pursue litigation.

I am currently in the process of preparing my appeals regarding the other fee waiver denials/fee estimates that you provided, so my apologizes for not being able to respond to your message sooner.

I disagree with the fee estimate provided for this request. It should not take 20 hours of search time and 200 pages to provide me with the 1033 roster that I requested. At the same time I submitted this request, I submitted a similar request to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for a copy of their 1033 roster (and a roster/inventory for all requests) for their Region 4. I was provided with a 7-page Excel spreadsheet of the roster within 8 days following my request.

I believe that you can provide me with a similar spreadsheet/roster of the current 1033 inventory within a reasonable time period. This would not require an exhaustive search totaling 20 hours, and it certainly would not require duplication of 200 pages. If it is the assertion of the National Park Service that a roster/inventory of all requests made to the 1033 program does not exist, which would trigger my request for a copy of all applications, I would like this in writing.

Finally, I would direct you to the Department of Interior's FOIA handbook, revised 2014 (383 DM 15 HB), which states in section 7.1(B): "An “other use” requester is not charged for the first two hours of searching, first 100 pages of duplication, or any review time. If it is unclear which two hours of the search were the first two hours discussed above, waive the most expensive time incurred first (for example, when there is uncertainty, waive two hours of professional time before waiving two hours of clerical time);" Although I will again note my disagreement with not being classed as a representative of the news media, I will also note that the fee estimate provided waves two hours of professional search time at $42 an hour rather than managerial search time at $60 an hour. This seems to be in contradiction with 7.1(B) of the FOIA handbook, unless it is your assertion that professional search time would come first (which isn't how it seems in the fee estimate provided; it is listed second).

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Sept. 12, 2014. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed. You had assigned it reference number #NPS-2014-00876.

There isn't a single database where the information exists nor was itreadily available to find out which parks in our region might haveparticipated in the program because it was not a coordinated regionaleffort. I have responsive documents that I will release to you this week.

​*The current memorandum of agreement (MOA) or memorandum ofunderstanding(MOU) with the Defense Logistics Agency, Disposition Servicesregarding the 1033 equipment surplus program administered by the DLA LawEnforcement Support Office*

· *A roster/inventory of all requests to the Pentagon’s Program​1033. If a roster is not available, please provide copies of all​applications.*

· *A roster/inventory of all items received from the 1033 program*

I previously responded in your acknowledgement email, sent October 3, 2014,​that there are no records responsive to the first point of your request.​ Point 2 of your request is outside of the purview or responsibility ofthe Southeast Region of the National Park Service. We understand that the1033 program is a decentralized program and no such records are maintainedby us.​

​You have received two hours of search time at no cost as is permittedunder the FOIA as a requester classified as "other." Our initial feeestimate is based on an estimate provided by the five parks we understandmay have participated in the 1033 program. Each park maintains their ownrecords. There is no central database from which this information could bepulled. Each park provided me with an estimate based on their knowledge ofthe their parks records, locations of records (because they may bedispersed across a park rather than centrally located), and individualknowledge of participation in the program. As employees transfer or retire,activities or file locations may be more challenging to locate or figureout. Because this was not a centralized program within the Department ofthe Interior or within the National Park Service, I used the attached listthat was actually prepared by National Public Radio and they indicated thatpreparing the list took quite a bit of time because the program was sodecentralized. It is the attached Excel spreadsheet. From it I was able todiscern that potentially five parks from within the Southeast Region of theNPS (the scope of your request) may have participated: Mammoth CaveNational Park, Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park, Great SmokyMountains National Park, Blue Ridge Parkway, and Natchez Trace Parkway.

Your request for a fee waiver was denied on October 24, 2o14 because youfailed to provide sufficient information to merit granting a request.

When I contacted each park to provide me with a search estimate, at thattime Natchez Trace Parkway indicated that, although they had one expressedinterest in participating in the program, they never actually received anyitems. Of the remaining parks, Mammoth Cave was able to complete theirsearch for responsive records in 2 hours. I am providing you with theirresponsive records at this time.

​This completes our response to your request. Should you feel there hasbeen a procedural error in our processing of this FULL GRANT response youhave the right to appeal. You may file an appeal by writing to:

Your appeal must be received no later than 30 workdays after the date ofthis final response. The appeal should be marked, both on the envelope andthe face of the appeal letter, with the legend "FREEDOM OF INFORMATIONAPPEAL." Your appeal should be accompanied by a copy of your originalrequest and copies of all correspondence between yourself and the NationalPark Service related to this request, along with any information you havewhich leads you to believe our response to be in error. Note, any appealreceived after 5 p.m. EST will be considered to have been received on thenext business day.

Additionally, because the National Park Service creates and maintains lawenforcement records, we are required by the Department of Justice toprovide the following information, even though it may or may not apply toyour specific request. Congress excluded three discrete categories of lawenforcement and national security records from the requirements of theFOIA. See 5 U.S.C. 552(c) (2006 & Supp. IV 2010). This response is limitedto those records that are subject to the requirements of the FOIA. This isa standard notification that we are required to give all our requesters andshould not be taken as an indication that excluded records do, or do not,exist.